Under the Act on the National Bank of Poland of August 29, 1997, the National Bank of Poland (NBP) holds the exclusive right to issue the currency of the Republic of Poland. The currency issued by the NBP consists of notes and coins.

The coins issued by the National Bank fall into two categories. The first are coins for general circulation, minted in large quantities and used as cash, at face value. This group also includes PLN 2 Nordic gold alloy commemorative coins intended for circulation. The second comprise collectors’ items, minted in limited editions, primarily for coin collectors at home and abroad.

The NBP, as the issuer of the banknotes and coins and the owner of the property rights related to their design, reserves the right to grant its approval for the reproduction of the banknote and coin designs on a case-by-case basis in order to prevent reproductions in any form that devalues the Polish currency.

Reproduction in printed media

The NBP does not give its consent for:

the use of images of the banknotes and coins to advertise substances which may be harmful to health if overused;

the reproduction of the banknotes and coins in a way that may suggest their destruction, e.g. crumpling, perforation, breaking or cutting;

the use of images which show the banknotes being folded into different shapes.

In order to ensure the safety of the banknotes in circulation, the NBP will only grant approval for reproductions which depict only one side of the banknote and which measure more than 125% or less than 75% of the original banknote in terms of both length and width.

Moreover, according to the applied regulations of the Act on copyright and the related rights of February 4th, 1994 (Official Journal No. 90, item 631 and later amendments) that provide for the observance of personal copyright, the designer’s permission is needed if his/her work is to be used. The work that is being put into circulation as legal tender may not – either wholly or in part – be used and/or elaborated for purposes other than those connected with its official function as legal tender unless the designer gives his/her express permission.

In view of the above, in order to receive approval to use images of banknote or coin designs, applicants should submit a letter to the NBP containing the following information:

applicant’s data;

description of the intended use, i.e. which banknotes/coins will be used (front/back side of the banknote, obverse/reverse of the coin, denomination); type of project;

the name of the entity commissioning the project;

the type of data carrier to be used for the project;

in the case of an advertisement, the final version of the advertisement, and, in the case of a commercial film, the film itself or the storyboard.

Owing to the time required to analyse projects, it is suggested that applications be sent, where possible, no later than fourteen days before the finalisation date of the project.

Once approval has been granted by the NBP, applicants must also contact the designer of the banknote or coin design in order to obtain his/her approval.

The NBP does not charge a fee for granting approval to use banknote or coin designs for advertising purposes.

CBCDG

The Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group (CBCDG) is a group of 32 central banks and note printing authorities organized at the request of the Governors of the G10 central banks. Its mission is to investigate the common emerging threats to the security of banknotes, and to propose solutions for implementation by issuing authorities.